The Jesse Tree Daily Readings for Advent
Thom M Shuman
Some sample pages
WILD GOOSE PUBLICATIONS www.ionabooks.com
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Copyright Š Thom M Shuman, 2005 Published by Wild Goose Publications 4th Floor, Savoy House, 140 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow G2 3DH, UK web: www.ionabooks.com Wild Goose Publications is the publishing division of the Iona Community. Scottish Charity No. SCO03794. Limited Company Reg. No. SCO96243. ISBN 1 905010 06 0 Cover photo Š Neil Paynter All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including photocopying or any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Thom M Shuman has asserted his right in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Overseas distribution Australia: Willow Connection Pty Ltd, Unit 4A, 3-9 Kenneth Road, Manly Vale, NSW 2093 New Zealand: Pleroma, Higginson Street, Otane 4170, Central Hawkes Bay Canada: Bayard Distribution, 49 Front Street East, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1B3 Permission to reproduce any part of this work in Australia or New Zealand should be sought from Willow Connection. Printed by Bell & Bain, Thornliebank, Glasgow, UK
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CONTENTS Introduction 7 First Week – We’re thinking of moving 13 The skeleton in the closet 15 What’s in a name? 17 The loss of innocents 19 Against all the odds 21 Dance! Dance! Dance! 23 I love mysteries 25
Second Week – Amazing un-grace 31 Sealed lips 33 Let the children lead us 35 Once upon a time … 37 The One you least expect 39 Planting seeds 41 Precious treasure 43
Third Week – Are you the One? 49 She is still among us 51 When I was eight 53 The servant 55 Try to remember 57 At the last minute 59 Making the right choice 61
Fourth Week – The longest night 67 So frayed, so frazzled 69 Too tired to sleep 71 A flawed leader 73 The radical family line 75 In silence 77 Christmas Eve 79 Christmas Day 81 Blessing 85
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Introduction The first time I encountered a Jesse tree was as a kid in Sunday school, with the teacher using a flannel board on which different symbols were placed to represent the people in the ‘family tree’ of Jesus. There was a harp for David, an apple for Adam and Eve, a piece of multi-coloured fabric for the coat Joseph wore, and so on. The scriptural basis for this idea comes from Isaiah 11:1. ‘A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.’ Since Jesse was David’s father, and Jesus was of the lineage of David, the Jesse tree became a way of teaching many of the Bible stories to children during the Advent season. The nice thing about a Jesse tree is that a family can choose to use one for devotions during Advent, even if their church is not focusing on the Jesse tree. Over the years, I have seen Jesse trees take different forms. Some churches give each family a tree branch, usually two to three feet high, with lots of little branches attached. The branch can be placed in a bucket of rocks/earth, and then draped over with green cloth or paper. Another option is to cut the shape of a tree out of green or brown felt and to glue it to a piece of heavy cardboard. You can then glue little wooden pegs onto the ‘tree’ to hold the ornaments, or put Velcro on the back of the ornaments to make them stick. Some creative folks have taken the branch of a tree and suspended it from the ceiling (usually with fishing line), thus creating a Jesse tree mobile. As the children in the church I am blessed to serve made Jesse trees last year, I could see their excitement and the joy they experienced in making the trees, the ornaments, and in hearing stories of some of the folks in the Bible who are ancestors of Jesus. And I thought: We know the familiar stories like Noah and the Ark; we know the famous people, like Mary and David – but 7
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what about those folks that Jesus might have heard about at bedtime? What about the people who might only be mentioned once in the Bible (in the lineages in Matthew and Luke)? What about the women, the prophets, the exiles who, while not linked to Jesus genetically, nevertheless passed on their ‘spiritual DNA’ to him and to us? They are just as much a part of his heritage, his family, his ‘tree’ as all his relatives by blood and by marriage. They are a part of the tradition and faith we seek to pass on to our children and grandchildren. They are branches on the Jesse tree. Thom Shuman
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First Week
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First Sunday of Advent
We’re thinking of moving Read Genesis 12:1–4a
As usual, Abe was late. The rest of the ROMEOs (Retired Old Men Eating Out) were on their second cup of coffee by the time he slipped into the lone empty chair. Gratefully accepting his steaming mug from Nancy, he slowly sipped as he listened to the weekly highlights of various kids and grandkids, and murmured appreciatively over the inevitable photos. As usual, he had no such stories to tell or pictures to share. After breakfast orders had been placed, one of the men said, ‘Abe, you’re quieter than normal. Everything okay? Your nephew taking good care of the business?’ ‘Oh, Lot’s doing a super job,’ Abe replied. ‘Based on the monthly cheque I get, I have no complaints there.’ ‘Sarie doing well?’ another enquired. ‘Other than her normal carping about wanting to move to a ranch-style house to stop climbing all those stairs, she’s great,’ Abe answered. The silence that followed could have deafened a heavy metal band. ‘C’mon, Abe! We’ve known you too long not to know there’s something on your mind. Spill.’ ‘Well,’ Abe let out a long sigh, ‘we’re thinking of moving.’ ‘Ah, finally getting rid of the old place, huh? Will you be moving to one of those fancy retirement villages?’ ‘No, not quite.’ ‘I’ll bet he’s gone and bought one of those caravans, and he and Sarie will be living and travelling in that.’ 13
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First Sunday of Advent ‘No, that’s not it either.’ ‘For heaven’s sake, Abe, what then?’ ‘We’re selling the house, Lot’s selling the business, and we’re all moving to Canaan.’ The silence that followed this time was enough to fill a cathedral. ‘Canaan? Canaan … I’ve heard of Canaan … that’s where … that’s … Where is Canaan?’ one of the newer members asked. ‘I’ll tell you,’ exploded Abe’s best friend. ‘It’s nowhere. You can’t get there from here, even if you wanted to, which no one in his right mind would. It’s the flea on the tail of the king’s dog; it’s the bottom of the worst cesspool you’ve ever smelled; it’s the most godforsaken place in the world, and even the gods have lost the directions on how to find it. That’s Canaan, brother, that’s Canaan.’ ‘Then why, Abe, why there of all places?’ ‘Well,’ he said with a slight smile on his lips, ‘you might say someone told me to go there.’ Prayer Where are you calling us to go, God? What risks are you asking us to take this Advent season? What steps might we take, even hesitantly, in order to follow you? Speak to us, God, speak to us. Amen
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First Monday of Advent
The skeleton in the closet Read Joshua 2:1–21; 6:17,23–25
Some people are born on the ‘wrong’ side of the tracks; Rahab lived on the right side of the gap – the space that separated the two walls which surrounded Jericho. Actually, her house was built so that it straddled the gap, though, in her case, it seems that her windows looked out from the outer wall. Scripture speaks of her as being a harlot or a prostitute, though she might have been an innkeeper (it’s hard to tell since, back in her day, innkeepers were also called harlots, both trades being seen as morally deficient). Whatever the case, because of what she did for Joshua’s spies, she became a ‘player’ in the movement of the people of Israel into the Promised Land, and a role model for faith. The writer of Hebrews names her and only one other woman (can you name her without looking?) in the great chapter on faith (Hebrews 11). Rabbinic tradition tells us that Rahab, this outsider, was one of the four most beautiful women in the world, and was the ancestor of eight prophets (including Jeremiah) and one prophetess (Huldah). Not bad for someone the rest of society looked down their noses at! And if tradition is right that she married Salmon, one of the spies, then she became the mother of Boaz, and thus great-great grandmother of David, from whom Jesus is descended. Maybe this ‘skeleton in the closet’ is one of the reasons Jesus was so welcoming to prostitutes and other outsiders.
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First Monday of Advent Prayer We all have ‘skeletons’ in our closet, Understanding God – folk we are just a little embarrassed about being a part of our family. Do we use them as an excuse to turn our backs on people like them, or an opportunity to be as forgiving and welcoming as Rahab’s family member, Jesus? Help us to ponder such questions in this season, we pray. Amen
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First Tuesday of Advent
What’s in a name? Read Matthew 1:14 (if you really want to, you could read all of Matthew 1:1–17!)
It didn’t make the Top Ten, or the Hit Hundred, or even the most popular 1,000 names of 2003. In fact, it didn’t even make the top 1,000 of the most popular names given to newborn boys in the last millennium! Achim. Not surprised, are you? After all, how many Achims have you known in your lifetime? You could count them all on one hair of your head (if even that many), I would bet. Yet there he is in the Bible, in the genealogy of Jesus – one of the ancestors of our Lord. Was he a merchant, a shepherd, a carpenter? Did he have a big family? Did he love his children? Did he care for his wife? Was he a man of strong faith, or did he just attend synagogue occasionally? We don’t know if there were any stories told to young Jesus about this person in his family tree. He’s like some of our ancestors in those family photographs taken so long ago; those tintypes stored too long in shoe boxes; those Kodak moments that fade over the years until they are all curled at the edges, the faces kind of blurry. ‘Who is that, Mum, that guy standing in front of that funny car?’ ‘Who is that, Grandpa, who’s holding you on her lap?’ And we look, and we think, and we wonder, and we stammer, ‘I don’t remember his name, but he was some sort of relation to my grandmother. She looks a lot like your Aunt Moira, but I’ll be darned if I know who it is.’ But someone knew who these people were, and what they did, and what they meant to their families, to their children, to their friends, to their neighbours. 17
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First Tuesday of Advent We may not remember their names, but someone does, someone who knew Achim when he was a little boy, and a teenager, and an adult. Someone who watched over Achim from his birth to his death. Someone who continues to know him, and call him by name. And it’s the same One who knows us by name, and always will ‌ the One we call God.
Prayer As we write names on gift tags, we lift them up to you, Name above all names. As we address Christmas cards, we ask that you surround these people with your peace and joy. As we stick labels on packages, we pray that your love and hope will accompany ours on a journey of love to these people. You know us by name, O God, and never forget us, even when we forget you. Amen 18
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